


Unlikely

by panpipe



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-11
Updated: 2010-11-11
Packaged: 2017-10-13 04:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panpipe/pseuds/panpipe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler adjusts to his new life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unlikely

**Author's Note:**

> Mirrored [here](http://panpipe.livejournal.com/105359.html#cutid1).

When he's alone, and things are quiet, that word is the only thought in Tyler's head, the only word he can see, hear, repeated over and over until he thinks he might explode from some strange cocktail of emotions— despair, regret, guilt, frustration, confusion.

He doesn't know how to shut it off. How had Uncle Mason managed it? Instead of worrying about his latest varsity match or passing Spanish, Tyler can only think helplessly about the coming full moon. What will he do? Where will he hide? Had Uncle Mason tried to contain himself during that time? The two hadn't talked much about the curse before he left town, so he couldn't be sure, but it had seemed as if he didn't care. After all, he had found the wolf ready to attack the Salvatores.

The wolf.

God, he wasn't even _human_ anymore.

 

After finding out the truth about Caroline, Tyler assumes he will speak with her at school the next day, that he will be able to confide in her and work through this—this problem— _with_ her.

She ignores him. No, not completely—but she also does nothing out of the ordinary. A polite hello because they both knew she fucked his best friend. Ex best friend. Whatever. Considering what had happened between them, what they now knew about each other, that was as good as ignoring Tyler's existence entirely, because everything had changed between them.

Surely she couldn't think things could stay the same.

Tyler waits three days, because he is proud and arrogant and hates asking for help, before slamming his hands on the lunch table in front of her, the sound reverberating in his ears, a sign of his still uncontrolled rage. _God_ , he thinks, I can't even manage a proper hello now.

Caroline jumps in surprise. _As if she didn't hear me coming_ , he thinks bitterly.

"Geez, Tyler," she says angrily, managing to look down her nose at him, despite the fact that he is standing and she is seated. "You could just say hi."

Tyler shakes his head, partially because _no_ , he couldn't, she would have just ignored him again, but also because he is trying to shake away the anger and self-loathing that it has come to this: that he is reduced to asking Caroline to help him survive the days. He remembers how he used to think of her, how he didn't even use her first name. Funny how things change.

He sits down across the table from her. He doesn't begin with any sort of apology, because that's not the way Tyler was raised. Be a man, always win the fight, and don't regret a thing. "Look, I just—I just—you know you're the only one I can talk to."

Tyler feels a strange prick at the back of his neck as he speaks and notices that Caroline's eyes veer into the distance behind him. He looks back across the picnic area and notices Matt eying the two of them strangely. Tyler bristles but pretends not to care. What right does Matt have anyway? He picks a dumbass fight with Tyler and then gets angry at Tyler for talking to his ex-girlfriend? Tyler's pretty sure that he and Matt are ex-friends so he doubts he's broken the bro code.

"Who cares what he thinks," he says, staring into Caroline's eyes, ignoring the stare. "That dude's a dick."

Caroline looks pitying when she returns her gaze to him. "I hope you're not blaming him for the other night. It was an accident. No one's fault."

"I don't blame him for my curse, no, but I sure as hell am not going to stand for him trying to beat me to a bloody pulp for no reason."

Caroline opens her mouth as if to say something, and then quickly closes it. He feels the rage, barely contained, rising to the surface. Why did she keep hiding things?

"Forget it," he says, shoving himself away from the table. "Don't know why I thought this would work."

 

If Tyler can't talk to Caroline, he's not sure _who_ he can talk to. Someone who reacts well to, "Oh, by the way, I'm a werewolf, and I'll rip your throat out if we meet on a full moon."

He doubts anyone like that exists.

 _Jeremy Gilbert does_ , a needling voice reminds him. Tyler blinks, staring into the contents of his locker. It's true. Hell, Tyler hadn't even told the kid about the family curse, and yet the idiot just walked right up to him and said, "I know what you are," without so much as blinking. No fear. Just—something. Some strange emotion that Tyler didn't recognize, the same emotion he'd seen on Jeremy's face the day of his father's funeral.

It had been impulse that made Tyler invite Jeremy to his house that day. It had been the loneliness, the need to feel a connection—like the one in his father's study—that made him interact with Jeremy.

Well, Tyler is done with strange emotions and impulses. It hasn't gotten him anywhere worthwhile thus far. The two can say hello in the hall, but he sees no reason to continue the friendship elsewhere.

The next morning, Caroline is waiting by his locker. "I'm sorry," she begins. "I'm sorry I was worried about what Matt would think, I'm sorry that I was insensitive about you guys fighting, I'm sorry I gave you this hope of having someone to talk to and then got scared. I'm a horrible bratty, brash, selfish person, but I think everyone's well aware of that by now." She plants her feet firmly as he tries to push her away and get to his locker. "Look, are we okay? Can we start again as friends?"

Tyler sighs. For all her faults, Caroline is genuine.

And he's desperate for _something_ to make him feel normal again.

 

They don't seek each other out. If they see each other in the hall, they stop and chat for a few minutes. If they see each other at the grocery store, he'll follow her as she shops, make jokes, and pretend he and she are engaged in a battle of bumper carts until the manager reprimands them. There are no invites to hang out at each other's houses, but they gain an easy companionship just the same.

She doesn't ask him about why he's not speaking to Matt, and he doesn't ask why she gets flustered when he asks about how she became a vampire.

 

When it's a week until the full moon, Tyler receives a package.It is heavy, and the clanking of chains gives him a sick feeling in his stomach.

His mother tells him that she never wants to sign for another package like that again, that he needs to keep his kinks where they won't disgrace the family name. He doesn't argue, because really, how else is he supposed to explain the metal bondage device he's been sent by an anonymous stranger?

Tyler assumes that Uncle Mason must have heard about the accident and realized what it meant for Tyler. As disturbing as the thought of locking himself away for the full moon was, he was glad to know that his uncle _had_ taken precautions to prevent the further loss of innocent life.

He would do the same.

 

The first night after the full moon, Tyler feels relaxed for the first time in what now feels like forever. He had gone to the old property, shackled himself in the old dungeons, and no one had died. As weird as it was to say, it had been _awesome_. Knowing he could survive the transformation and no one had to get hurt.

Tyler begins drawing wolfmen in his sketchpads. Wolves saving the day, triumphing over evil, over zombies and Frankenstein monsters and even the Joker.

His wolves never fight vampires.


End file.
